Telegraph View: We can only hope for the swift removal of President
Bashar al-Assad and his regime

Now it really is a fight to the finish. Kofi Annan’s resignation as peace envoy to Syria drives home a pitiless message. Both sides in this elemental struggle have chosen to commit themselves utterly to the conflict – the rebels because they are fighting for victory; President Bashar al-Assad, desiccated and flailing, because repression is all he knows.

With the last avenue for diplomacy almost certainly blocked, governments will now consider options that might previously have been unthinkable. America and Turkey are understood to be discussing whether to allow other nations to supply Syria’s rebels with surface-to-air missiles. Mr Assad has dispatched jet fighters on ground-attack missions for the first time, while helicopter gunships are routinely in action.

Enabling his enemies to counter this threat would carry the force of moral and military logic. Yet it would be reckless: the missiles might fall into dangerous hands. In a country where al-Qaeda and sundry extremists are trying to hijack a legitimate revolution, weapons intended to shoot down military jets could, one day, be used against civilian airliners. But by failing to supply the missiles, we leave the Syrians more exposed to their dictator’s fury. At this sombre juncture, every option is deeply unpalatable. We can only hope for the swift removal of Mr Assad and his regime. But we should be humble enough to admit that such an outcome is something over which Britain – and the West – has perilously little control.